A method for probing the formation of quark matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how parton scatterings influence strangeness production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, proposing the a0transverse momentum ratio of certain strange particles as a potential signal for quark matter formation.

Contribution

It introduces a method using a multi-phase transport model to link parton scatterings with strangeness production, offering a new probe for quark matter emergence.

Findings

Parton scatterings significantly affect strange baryon distributions below a0a0s_{NN}a0a0a0a0 10 GeV.

The a0(a0a0+a0a0^{0})/a0a0a0a0a0a0Xi^{-} ratio's transverse momentum distribution can serve as a probe.

The study suggests this ratio as a potential indicator of the hadron-quark phase transition.

Abstract

Based on a multi-phase transport model for relativistic heavy-ion collisions, effects of the parton scatterings on the production of strangeness in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are studied. It is found that the distributions of strange quark and strange baryon, especially for the double strangeness $\Xi^{-}$, are significantly affected by the parton scatterings in heavy-ion collisions below $\sqrt{s_{NN}}\sim$ 10 GeV. Given parton scatterings as a signal of the formation of quark matter, the transverse momentum distribution of the ratio of single and double strangeness $(\Lambda+\Sigma^{0})/\Xi^{-}$ produced in heavy-ion collisions may serve as a potential probe of the emergence of quark matter, or equivalently, the occurrence of hadron-quark phase transition in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.